Just Be nice yeah?
by kiwilivin
Summary: giilian reads the first chapter of Cals book, they have a nice chat. post epish for s03e02, no spoilers though


Disclaimer: Not mine, just mucking about for a bit.

Just...Be nice, yeah?

**Let me be clear. I understand very little, least of all the people closest to me. **

Gillian sat nursing her scotch in one hand and Cal's words in the other, she had settled in to read her way through the first chapter of his book. They were both in his study at- what was it now, 10? Jesus, get a life outside of work Gill, she thought to herself with a slight smile to her face.

After several attempts at concentrating on the first line with Cal bouncing off the wall's in anticipation Gillian had finally pushed him out the door telling him to wait outside or she'd never get past the first sentence "go away Cal your making me nervous! I'll come and find you when I'm done alright?"

Gillian couldn't help the look of amusement that spread across her features despite her agitated tone, she never could when he was acting like this, not even when they were on a case and he was giving a client the run around, she wished she could school her features into a stern look, knowing full well her amusement just encouraged Cal but she simply couldn't, the mischievous side of Gillian loved it when Cal had a client flustered and he bloody knew it, feed off of it even.

"Right you are luv" Cal said, hopping down from the stairs he'd being swinging on like a five year old. "Just go mess with Loker's stuff then eh," he said on his way out the door, "hop it for a bit till your done - here I go then".

He turned back suddenly swinging on the door this time, "get you anything darlin, more drink maybe or hows bout a sandwich?"

"Cal!" Gillian wouldn't get past the first page at this rate. "Ok - alright I'm gone, just...Be nice, yeah?" and with that he was gone, spun around in an instant before Gillian had had a chance to reply.

Gillian frowned with concern, the first sentence was loaded, his words were rife with underlying messages.

Deciding to ask him how he was feeling about his mother after she had stroked his ego at how good the book was looking Gillian forged ahead. So far it was great, brilliant in fact.

Countless times Gillian had whined at how Cal held the ability to procrastinate in the most extreme sense of the word then sit down and write for a solid five minutes and that was it the words were set in stone, as good as they could get with no need for further editing.

Gillian fondly remembered several occasions in which whilst putting off writing up his latest research she had walked in to her office only to find Cal sitting on the floor looking like a kid colouring, psychology textbooks spread all around him, "Wot – maybe I wanna learn bout expressin my feelings" was all he'd said, Gillian just laughed at him, "Yeah and pigs do fly" she scoffed, sitting down at her desk and carrying on with her day.

He'd made pancakes for everyone in the office once, cleaned out a long forgotten store room, even tackled the yearly financial reports. At least he was productive in his avoidance she supposed.

With a satisfied smile Gillian placed the finished first chapter on the coffee table in front of her, refilled her glass and grabbed the bottle, heading off in search of Cal, she knew just where to find him.

"You were the guy who started assignments the day they were due after going out all night the night before and still got straight A's weren't you?" she accused as she pushed open the door to the balcony.

It was a nice night but the breeze held a chilled early spring feel as the last of the winter days tried to hold dominance for a little longer.

Cal was graceful as ever in his ridiculously bad posture; he scrubbed his head in his hands but did so by pushing down into them as they stretched out over the edge, rather than standing up straight. Turning with his head still in his hands, his tired eyes but that unmistakable Lightman glint meet Gillian's and he smiled devilishly, "Yeah, but all the good girls secretly loved me for it".

Seeing Gillian's perfect and understanding smile at his comment he stood straight moving as always right into Gillian's personal space, in an instant he had removed his coat and wrapped it around her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms then grabbing at the bottle of scotch she had brought with her, he turned to look over the DC skyline.

Taking a swig of some Dutch courage, "let's have it then, absolute bollocks init luv?" he had intended his tone to be one of playful banter and it was for the most part, but Gill was the language expert and she caught it, the hint of self loathing that laced his words.

With a sigh she turned and pulled the bottle from him, forcing Cal to look her in the eyes, "you can be as self deprecating as you want but believe me when I say this Cal, its good - it's better than good, it's perfect."

Seeing the doubt in his eyes despite knowing that she was telling the truth caused her to wrap him in a bear hug and give him a quick kiss on the lip/cheek, you know the one, the on the borderline of friendship and something more kiss that had become the norm between the two of them.

Turning back to face the city, knowing Cal's eyes were still zeroing in on her she quickly and expertly change back to the playful tone Cal had being aiming for earlier, "you know if you let your staff see some of that modesty every once in awhile they might actually start to like you".

Cal laughed whole heartedly thankful Gillian wasn't going to pester him about his feelings, "And what the bloody hell do I want them to like me for? Prefer the fear of God tactic myself luv, and you weren't sposed to catch that". He added, referring to his minor slip up into the realm of seriousness earlier.

"Do you want to talk?" Gillian asked softly placing a comforting hand on his forearm. It had been a few days now but Cal was still a little off after the beauty pageant business, he hadn't told Gillian what he had said to Megan about his mother, and she knew he wasn't going to. But that whole business had obviously hit a little close to home and reading between the lines of his first chapter had convinced Gillian that he wasn't ok.

Scrubbing his face once more, trying elusively to rub away the day Cal sighed and turned away from Gillian, she waited patiently as he paced up and down the small area, started to speak, stopped, scrubbed his face once more, started to speak, stopped, paced once more until finally he spoke, "it's just- it's just always being a bit hard to swallow you know?"

Gillian nodded eager for him to continue at his own pace. "When mum was around it was ruff on her. Spose it wasn't all roses for any of us really, her being a few slices short of a loaf and all" he waved his hands round and tried to sound flippant, Gillian knew he was deflecting his true feelings and replacing it with humour, but at least he was talking about it.

"But christ Gill anything woulda been better than that".

With this slight but by Cal's standards huge omission he shut down again, grasping for the bottle of scotch he allowed the liquid to burn his insides on the way down relishing in the warmth, this feelings crap was hard he thought.

Gillian leaned into Cal wrapping her arm underneath his and stealing some of his body heat, resting her head against his shoulder.

That was all and she knew it, he had revealed enough to release some of the weight that was loaded on his shoulders.

Subject closed. Until next time. For now he just needed the comfort of her presence.

a/n: now if only that had been the 3000 word anthropology essay I have due in two days and haven't even looked at yet, and if only I was that smarmy A student. Wouldn't that have being brilliant? But meh

Review, don't review, I'll survive. Ta


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